Nightmare in Blood
by Acerbitas
Summary: An exploration of Tohma's dreams and nightmares. Eiri heads deeper and deeper into danger, and Tohma tries despretely to warn him. [oneshot]


This is deffinately weird, and when an author admits that about her story, it's really weird. I guess you could call it an exercise in symbolism. **Please read the symbolism explaination at the bottom afterwords, it will explain alot. **If you liked it, it would be nice to know. Thanks! Oh yeah,Tohma dreams in color because I didn't think about it tell afterward, because I always dream in color. Oops! Oh well. Also, I couldn't figure out what genre to put this under. I hope the rating is correct as well!

**Nightmare in Blood**

Tohma pounded helplessly at the impenetrable glass that divided him from Eiri. A deep expanse of darkness loomed in the distance, ominously clawing at Eiri as he continued his mindless tread forward. Onward into the intensifying gloom he continued, the glass walkway his feet traversed becoming thinner and more perilous at every step. His black suit began to melt, dripping dark ooze that fell to the glass and then sank though. Down the oily liquid plunged, down until it disappeared into the unfathomable cavern below. In the distance, toothy protrusions rose from the black, flaring red light in Eiri's direction.

"Eiri, don't go any further!" Tohma screamed, sound bouncing against the glass and returning uselessly to his own numbed ears. Everything was freezing up; the red claws faded into blue and cracked with ice. Eiri's melting garment became solid and clung to his body like a strange ice sculpture. But still he continued to advance, unable to hear Tohma's warning or passion. "Eiri! Eiri!" Tohma pounded raw red hands against the seeming fragile glass…no, the ice…then desperately flung his body against the barrier. No luck.

Eiri became smaller and smaller, a humanlike shape on the twisted horizon. Then, blue claws flashed forward, collecting his beloved in craggy arms.

"No!" Tohma's devastated wail continued on even when his participation had ended. Then, the glass shattered, flying everywhere. A million tiny pieces cut into Tohma and stuck painfully in his flesh. Eiri turned toward the sound. Horrified, Tohma gazed into gaping sockets that were chiseled where Eiri's eyes should have been. A powerful wind caught Tohma and tugged him forward toward the black holes, whirling him powerfully in Eiri's direction. The black ovals grew impossibly large, and the wind froze Tohma's limbs so he could no longer struggle…until…

Slumped on a black and white tiled floor that stretched for miles, a sixteen-year-old Eiri stared forward, a gun lying loosely in his small, helpless fingers. From out of Yuki's nearby body crawled blood, so much blood, blood that could not possibly all be his. The bright red substance soon flowed readily, saturating Eiri's pants and spreading over a vast area like an insatiable virus. Tohma tried to run towards Eiri, but while he ran the gap between the two captives grew larger and larger. Then, as if in a trance, Eiri's hands tightened into the gun, breathing barely existent. Agonizingly slowly, he turned the pistol onto himself.

"No!" Tohma cried as lead spread painfully through his already weary feet. Eiri didn't turn. Eiri couldn't hear him. Could he hear himself? Falling as the weight of his legs rose to an unbearable level, Tohma felt his palms skid rebelliously against the cold surface. Then, the shot. It rocketed on Tohma's ears, growing piercingly loud and stabbing his tender hearing. He tried to scream, but he merely gasped at the thin air. The sound was conducting a takeover of the airwaves, and there was no more room for Tohma's begging, his pathetic denial. Tearful eyes forcing themselves to gaze forward, he watched Eiri's small, vulnerable body slump over and crumple in Yuki's blood.

Then the literal bloodbath began. Dark red liquid poured, flooded out from every part of Eiri's body. It flowed until Tohma kneeled in a foot of blood, still unable to move. Panic ate away at his sanity as the overflow of sticky death bubbled above his head. A wild vacuity filling his mind with terror, Tohma felt control of his body slipping from him. Panic crawled inside of him like a hundred mindless cockroaches. Flailing helplessly, he gasped for nonexistent air. Blood entered his mouth, flowing down his throat and making him choke. His thrashing hands grasped the thick, syrupy liquid vainly, trying to grasp anything solid. No…nothing! Death contracted his heart and cold clamminess spread throughout his body. He fainted.

Eyes snapping open, Tohma gazed, stiff, at the alien ceiling until he recognized it as his own. Oh. Oh… Another dream. Mika shifted in her uninterrupted sleep beside him. His stiff joints relaxed gradually and his frozen mind awakened. Eiri was safe in his bed. Eiri was sleeping peacefully. Everything was ok, he assured himself unsuccessfully. Eiri was sleeping right now, Shuichi wrapped in his arms.

Or was he? Tohma sat up, body still fighting numbness. The familiar room seemed surreal and slightly fuzzy. Reaching out towards the phone on his nightstand, he dialed Eiri's number. The wait was agonizing, and every ring appeared to take at least a thousand years.

"Who the _hell_ is this?" Eiri's gruff voice was heard on the phone, clearly enraged. "It's-It's three in the morning, goddammit!"

Tohma exhaled shakily, running his hands through disheveled hair. "I…just wanted to see if you were alright, Eiri-san…"

"Idiot!" Eiri growled ferociously, "What is your damn problem? Fuck off, will you? I'm not an eight year old at my first sleepover! Leave me alone and go to sleep, like normal people do!" And with that, he slammed the phone down, cutting Tohma off.

"Sorry…" Tohma whispered, "I'm sorry…I just...I…" Phone slipping from his fingers, Tohma buried his face in his hands and softly wept.

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**EXPLANATION OF SYMBOLISM: (i.e. What the crap is going on)** Eiri's journey down the path of glass represents his life. The increasing danger he faces as he heads deeper towards the claws, or depression and hatred, is symbolized by how thin and weak the glass path has become. Tohma is trapped on the outside of Eiri's life, unable to help or influence him any longer, even though he thinks he knows how to save him. Eiri is dripping hatred and loneliness. The cold represents how distant Tohma's relationship with Eiri has become, and how Eiri is becoming icy and losing himself to numbness. When everything becomes too tense and painful, it explodes, like the glass did, hurting observers in the process. Finally Eiri hears Tohma, but it is too late. Eiri's eyes are missing because he can no longer clearly see where he is going or how the people around him are trying to help him. Tohma is drawn to Eiri merely to symbolize how he cannot let go of Eiri, and how because of this, he is also drawn into Eiri's depression and sorrow. When Tohma is trying to reach Eiri on the paneled plane, he keeps on trying to get to Eiri, but instead he gets farther and farther away. In the storyline, Tohma constantly tries to help Eiri, but he never gets anywhere, in fact, Eiri shuns him even more. Yuki's blood spreading out to flood Eiri shows how much Yuki's death affected Eiri. Eiri's suicide shows how hurt and torn Eiri is inside, and the subsequent "drowning" of Tohma shows how Eiri's state of mind completely influences Tohma's emotions and his whole existence. As Eiri commits suicide, Tohma loses his life as well.

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I hope at least one person out there enjoyed this, even if it is incredibly odd and the notes arealmost as long as the piece itself! 


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